1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a printing system which includes at least one printing device having one or more language interpreter for interpreting received print data, and at least one data processing device which is connected to the printing device or devices through a bidirectional interface and each of which has a plurality of printer drivers through which the print data are sent to the printing device or devices. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with such a printing system capable of automatically selecting one of the printer drivers available on the data processing device, or automatically selecting one of the printing devices which is compatible with the data processing device from which the print data are sent.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A data or text processing device of modern vintage known as "word processors", "personal computers" or "work stations" is provided with various printer drivers which are compatible with or applicable to respective language interpreters available on various types of printers, so that batches of print data sent from the data processing device are described or expressed in different printing control languages that can be interpreted by the respective language interpreters. Thus, the provision of such various printer drivers on a data processing device permits a printing system in which the data processing device is connected to two or more different printers. There is also known a printing system wherein a printer having a plurality of language interpreters is connected to different types of data processing devices such as personal computers. In this printing system, one of the language interpreters of the printer is automatically selected depending upon the printing control language in which the print data received from a specific one of the data processing devices are described. However, each data processing device is not capable of automatically selecting one of the printer drivers through which the print data are sent to the printer.
Generally, the printing control languages in which the print data are sent from the respective printer drivers provided on ordinary data processing devices are standard languages which conform with a standard called "DEFACT STANDARD". Commonly known printing control languages include a language suitable for a plotter used in the field of CAD (computer-aided design), a language suitable for a personal or office printer for ordinary documentation, and a language suitable for a type setter as well as the office printer.
Modern enterprises are using a network system which includes a plurality of computers interconnected with a communication cable, and one or more printers for printing various sorts of output data of the computers.
In the case where one printer in the network system indicated above is provided with two or more language interpreters compatible with the appropriate printer drivers of the computers, the operator of each computer is required to select one of the printer drivers which is applicable to one of the language interpreters of the printer, upon sending of print data from that computer to the printer when a new software is set in the computer or the printer is changed from one type to another.
Where a network system includes a plurality of printers, and the operator of a computer or other data processing device connected to the printers selects one of the printer drivers, the operator has to select one of the printers which has the language interpreter compatible with the selected printer driver.
As indicated above, when print data are sent from a data processing device to a specific printer, the operator of the data processing device has to select one of the printer drivers which is compatible with one of the language interpreters of the printer. Accordingly, the operator must check the compatibility between the language interpreters available on the printer, and the printer drivers available on the data processing device, in order to determine the printer driver through which the print data are sent to the printer. Thus, the selection of the appropriate printer driver on the data processing device is cumbersome and time-consuming. Further, the language interpreters and the printer drivers may be revised or modified, and new interpreters and printer drivers may be added to the printer and data processing device. In this case, the selection of the appropriate printer driver is further complicated.
In a network system including a plurality of data processing devices and a plurality of printers, the operator of each data processing device has to select one of the printers which has the interpreter or interpreters compatible with the printer drivers available on the data processing device. In this case, too, the operator must check the compatibility of the interpreters and the printer drivers, in order to select the appropriate printer to which the print data are sent through the appropriate printer driver. Thus, the selection of the appropriate printer is cumbersome and time-consuming, particularly when the interpreters and printer drivers are modified or new interpreters and printer drivers are added, as indicated above.
For the reasons described above, the conventional printing system or network including at least one data processing device and at least one printing device is not fully automated, requiring the operator's operation upon sending of print data to the appropriate printer, upon installation of a new software in the data processing device or upon changing of the printer from one type to another. Thus, the conventional printing system suffers from a relatively long overall non-printing time of the printers and relatively low overall printing efficiency of the system.